


Welcome Home

by StreetSoldierin



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Bromance, Daichi is an A+ friend, Fluff, Homelessness, Hurt/Comfort, I like the expression "A+" far too much, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, One Shot, Past Child Abuse, Protect him at all cost, Protective!Daichi, Sickfic, Suga is too good for this world, both in the literal and ironical way, but now it's more a, read it as a pairing if you like, some A+ parenting, was meant as romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 13:14:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20760935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StreetSoldierin/pseuds/StreetSoldierin
Summary: Daichi knew where Suga lived.Why shouldn’t he, they had been best friends for years after all.But then again, he never had been to Suga’s house. He had never met Suga’s parents. And when Suga catches a very persistent cold one day, some dark secrets start to come into the light.





	Welcome Home

**Author's Note:**

> Hello beautiful people!
> 
> This has been lying around for WEEKS and I forgot to post it! Talk about being organized and all.  
This is the only DaiSuga fic I've written so far but I had this idea in my head and their characters seemed most fitting for it.
> 
> Thanks to **blue_tree96** for beta reading!

Daichi knew where Suga lived. He had been cycling the same way home with him ever since they met in their first year, because they didn’t live that far from each other and could ride the same way.  
After school, they would get on their bikes, ride until Suga said goodbye and rode down his street while Daichi continued about ten minutes more to his own home. 

Daichi knew where Suga lived. He had asked which house it was once, and Suga had pointed it out. It was a nice, white-bricked house near Karasuno High, with a little garden and a car in front of the garage, which was sometimes there and sometimes not depending on how Suga’s parents were out for work. 

Daichi knew where Suga lived, yet he had never visited his best friend at home. Whenever they met up, they always did so at Daichi’s place, or in the city somewhere. Daichi’s family loved Suga, they had doted on him ever since he had entered the house the first time with his polite character and his nice manners, and especially when he started praising Daichi’s mother’s cooking. He was family by now, and yet Daichi had never met Suga’s parents. 

Of course they had talked about this before, one of the many long nights spent on Daichi’s bedroom floor, and Suga had fixed his gaze on the carpet and explained that his parents were very strict and rarely allowed people over. Daichi figured their relationship wasn’t the best, so he never pressed the subject, because he didn’t want to cause any trouble for Suga.  
Just every once in a while, he cautiously brushed the topic, but Suga never really wanted to talk about it. 

In all those years, Daichi never once grew suspicious.  
Not until the third year of high school, when things started changing with Suga. At first it was very subtle, and everyone blamed it on the weather getting colder and school being more stressful.  
Suga was known to always have a smile on his face, but these days that smile looked tired and shadows appeared under his eyes.  
People started asking him if he was okay, and he always just nodded and told them not to worry.  
But Daichi did. 

When the days got even colder, Suga seemed to have developed a cough that, even after weeks, didn’t go away, and whenever Daichi asked if he had been to a doctor, Suga just shrugged it off and said it was just a little cold.  
Even Daichi’s parents grew worried, and when Suga stayed over one night, Daichi’s mom basically force-fed him some cough medicine. 

A few days later, Suga almost collapsed during volleyball practice. Tanaka could just barely get there in time to support him so he wouldn’t topple over, and Daichi called a break and rushed over to check on his friend while the rest of the team shot them worried glances, but gave them their space.  
“What on earth are you doing? You’re still sick, aren’t you?”  
Suga glared at his own feet as if they were responsible for not being able to hold him up. “Maybe, a bit. I thought it was alright again.”  
But his cheeks were glowing and he was radiating off heat, and Daichi knew it wasn’t true. “You’re not okay. And I’m banning you from practice until you’re fully back to health again.”  
“What?” Suga’s eyes widened. “I’m healthy enough to play, Daichi! Come on, you can’t do that.”  
“In fact, I just did. I won’t be responsible for you ruining your health just because you’re too proud to admit that you’re sick. What’s going on? I’d expect this behavior from Kageyama or Hinata, but usually you have all the common sense that is left in this team.”  
“Please, Daichi.”  
“No. You’re going home now.” 

They stared at each other for a few seconds, and then Suga lowered his head, knowing fully well it was no use arguing when Daichi had already made up his mind. “Fine.” He turned around and waved good-bye to the rest of the team. Then he turned to Daichi again. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”  
Daichi nodded. “Take care of yourself, okay?” Then he watched his friend leave, truly concerned about the way his shoulders were sagging and his step was a bit wobbly.  
“Break is over. Let’s get on with it.”  
It was really hard concentrating on playing today. 

Daichi waited for Suga at the usual crossroad the next morning, but his friend never appeared.  
Neither did he on the next day, or the one after that.  
Daichi figured he was sick at home, but when Suga didn’t even return his texts, he truly started worrying. He called a few times, but it seemed like Suga’s phone was turned off.  
He must have looked so worried at dinner that his parents asked him what the matter was, and when he told them, they shot each other uneasy glances.  
“You should go check on him,” his mother said finally. “You know where he lives, right?” 

Daichi knew where Suga lived. But he had never rung the doorbell, or faced Suga’s parents. He wasn’t entirely sure if Suga wanted him to, but at this point, he was truly worried and just needed to know how his friend was. 

That’s why he stood on Suga’s doorstep the next day after school and rang the bell. He was braced for everything, and had already prepared what he would say to Suga’s strict parents – but that was somehow forgotten when the door opened.  
A woman stood before him, but she didn’t look strict or unfriendly at all – on the contrary, she smiled brightly. “Hello, what can I do for you? If you’re collecting donations I’ll have to get my wallet real quick.”  
Daichi shook his head, a bit dazzled. “Actually, I wanted to check up on Suga. I just was worried since he hasn’t shown up in school, and hasn’t returned any texts. Is he doing okay?”  
The woman cocked her head and pondered for a few seconds. Then she answered, “I’m sorry, dear, but there’s nobody with that name living here. Are you from Karasuno High?” 

Taken aback, Daichi looked up and down the street. “I’m sorry, maybe I got the wrong house... Yes, I’m from Karasuna High, I’m looking for my friend Sugawara Koushi. I thought he lived here, but it must be one of the other houses.”  
The woman looked at him sympathetically. “Are you sure about that? This is a small neighborhood, and I am very sure nobody by that name lives around here. Maybe he gave you the wrong street adress?”  
This just kept getting weirder and weirder. “I... No, we ride by every day on our bikes, that... I’m sorry, I’m just very confused. I was so sure it was this house.” 

The woman opened the door all the way now. “Well, maybe I just know him by another name. What does he look like?”  
“Um... he’s just a bit shorter than me, grey-silverish hair, and brown eyes.”  
The woman’s eyes lit up. “Oh, is he a bit slender-built? I think I’ve seen him around, that hair-color is quite distinctive, isn’t it? But I’m sorry, I’m sure he doesn’t live around here, maybe he was visiting someone?”  
Daichi didn’t know what to think, his head was spinning. Why would Suga tell him he lived here when he didn’t really? “When did you see him for the last time? And did you see where he was headed?”  
“It was about three days ago, I think. I was just unloading groceries from the car, and he walked down this little path that leads behind the houses into the back alleys. See there?” She pointed at it, and Daichi could see that it was just a little path between the houses. “Maybe he just goes through here to get to the next street on the other side of the alleys? When you go through there, you’ll get to the apartment buildings.”  
“That... that might be. I think I’ll go look for him. Thank you so much, and sorry to bother you.”  
“It’s no bother at all, dear. Good luck for you, and if you need help just ring the bell again.”  
“Thank you so much.” 

Daichi turned around and walked down the few steps back to the street. His thoughts were chasing each other around in his head. Was Suga really at the other end, living in an apartment? But why hadn’t he told him? Had he been embarrassed? It made Daichi sick to his stomach to think that Suga hadn’t felt comfortable enough to tell him that he wasn’t living in a house. Why had he thought Daichi would judge him for that? 

He walked down the little path, and soon found himself in a dark back alley. It sure was a change of scenery to the nice street behind him, and he pulled his jacket closer around him to keep the cold at bay. There was only one way to go, so he started down that alley with a quick step. 

Sometimes there were little side streets leading off the one he was walking, but he continued walking straight-forward and only peeked left and right when there was a street opening up.  
But at one of those streets, he stopped dead in his tracks.  
Further down that narrow street stood something that looked like a makeshift shed out of sheet metal and woodplanks, crooked and broken in places. This wasn’t the strange part though.  
The thing that had made Daichi stop was the fact that Suga’s bike stood next to the little shed, chained up by three different locks. 

Cautiously, Daichi approached the shed. He didn’t know what to make of this, and if Suga’s bike had been stolen, he wasn’t really keen on facing the thief. But now he worried more than ever, what if Suga had been robbed and injured, and that’s why he wasn’t answering his texts? What if he was lying in a hospital bed? 

Those worries were wiped away and replaced with others within a second though, when Daichi peeked into the shed through a hole and spotted a strand of grey-silverish hair. “Suga!”  
He leaped forward and yanked back the cover of the shed – a makeshift roof out of sheet metal. Suga, who had been sleeping apparently, jerked awake and stared at Daichi. He opened his mouth, but all that came out was a horribly scratchy cough and he squeezed his eyes shut again. 

Daichi was too shocked to move for some moments. His eyes took in what he was seeing, but his brain couldn’t fully process it. Suga was lying there, wearing his winter jacket and covered by several torn blankets. Next to him were a few plastic bottles filled with water, except two which were empty, and his school bag along with all the books. There was another duffle bag which Daichi had seen before when they had been away for training camp, and he could see more clothes sticking out of it. 

Suga was shaking and fighting to sit up, but he looked horrible overall. His eyes were red, watery and underlined by dark circles, and despite obviously shaking from the cold his face was glowing with heat and his hair stuck to his sweaty forehead.  
Another coughing fit began to shake him again, even as he desperately tried to suppress it. 

“Suga,” Daichi repeated more softly, and stepped over the makeshift walls to kneel down beside his friend and helped him sit up. “It’s okay, I got you.”  
“I’m sorry,” Suga croaked, and doubled over a bit. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”  
“Don’t worry.” He couldn’t start questioning Suga, not here, not like this. His friend needed to get inside, into the warmth, maybe even to a doctor as soon as possible. He could ask him what the hell was going on later. He sat Suga up against one of the walls, and then whipped out his phone.  
His mother picked up the call within seconds. “Hi honey, did you talk to Suga?”  
“I found him, mom, and I need you to pick us up. He’s very sick. I’ll explain later, okay, just come and get us please.” He told her their location and she promised to get there as soon as she could, then hung up. 

Suga was looking at him with wide eyes. “What...” His voice broke, but Daichi knew what he had wanted to say. “I’m not leaving you here. You’re coming with me, and we’re going to take care of you.”  
He started packing the school books into the bag and zipped the duffle bag shut. If Suga wanted to protest, he wasn’t strong enough and he closed his eyes again, still trembling.  
When Daichi had packed everything there was to pack, he pulled back the blankets and took Suga by the shoulder. “Come on, you have to get up. Mom is coming with the car; we’ll just have to walk to the end of the street.” 

Suga nodded weakly and tried pulling himself up, but once standing he swayed dangerously and grabbed onto Daichi so he wouldn’t topple over. Daichi steadied him first, but then he changed his mind and just carefully picked him up into his arms. Suga didn’t protest. He was very light despite being only a few centimeters shorter than Daichi, and the latter could carry him with ease. 

He walked to the end of the road, and Suga’s head slumped against his chest after a few steps. It really worried him to see his friend like this, so much that he almost forgot the strange circumstances he had found him in. 

Soon his mom arrived and jumped out of the car when she saw the two of them. “Boys! Oh dear, what happened? No never mind that, we’ll get to that later, you poor thing must be freezing. Daichi, put him on the backseat!” Daichi did exactly that and made sure to buckle him up, then he ran back to get the bags he had packed earlier. He threw them in the trunk and climbed in on the other side of the backseat. As soon as his seatbelt was on, his mom started driving. 

“We’ll take you home and call the doctor, sweetie, you really look terrible. Is there anyone else we can call? Your parents, maybe?”  
Daichi wasn’t sure how much Suga was still able to process, but the latter seemed to have understood the question and slightly shook his head, eyes tightly closed. 

It only took a few minutes to get to Daichi’s house. “Bring him to the guest room,” his mom said as she stopped the car. “Give him some of your clothes, and make sure he’s warm and comfortable. I’ll get his bags and call the doctor immediately.” 

Daichi got out, and by the time he had walked around the car, Suga had already unbuckled himself. “I can walk,” he said in a weak voice. “I know you can,” Daichi replied. “But mom will kill me if I let you. Come on, I’ll take you on my back.”  
He got down on his knees, and either Suga couldn’t or didn’t want to argue, but either way he climbed on his back and Daichi stood up. “Alright, just hold on.” 

His mom held the door open, and he carried Suga up the stairs and into the bedroom. The bed was freshly made as it always was, just in case, and Daichi lowered Suga onto it.  
“I’ll be right back.” He rushed to his room, picked out some comfortable clothes from his closet and hurried back into the guest room. Suga was sitting there on the bed and had already taken off his jacket, and Daichi placed the new clothes next to him. 

Suga started changing without a word, and the boys knew each other long and well enough for this not to be awkward. Daichi picked up the cold, damp clothes and threw them on a pile on the floor so he could bring them to the laundry room later.  
He pulled the covers back so Suga could crawl underneath, and made sure to tuck him in properly. Suga’s gaze was feverish, but he still somehow managed to focus it on Daichi. “I’m so sorry. I never wanted you to... I’m sure you have questions.”  
Daichi shook his head. Sure, there was a lot going on in his head, but there was a time and place for these things which definitely wasn’t now. “You have nothing to be sorry for, okay? First, we’ll get you healthy again and then we can talk about everything else. You’re safe here and that’s all that matters.”  
Suga cast down his eyes and nodded. 

In that moment the door opened and Daichi’s mother came in, carrying the two bags that she dropped next to the bed. “Okay boys, I called the doctor and he’ll be here soon. I just want to make sure that you don’t get pneumonia or likewise, dear, you really don’t look good at all. I’ll make you some tea, do you want something to eat, too?”  
“No, thank you,” Suga replied weakly and Daichi’s mother nodded and took a step back. “You take care of him until I’m back, Daichi. If you boys need anything, let me know.” 

She disappeared again, and Daichi stayed on Suga’s side. They didn’t talk, Suga closed his eyes and eventually gave in to the obvious exhaustion and fell asleep again.  
Daichi went to turn up the heater a little bit, then he got a damp washing cloth and placed in on Suga’s forehead to cool it down a bit. 

Looking at his friend, he felt a little pinch in his stomach. How had he not seen earlier what was going on? He should have asked, should have been more persistent... but he had sent Suga away when he had started getting sick, and now here he was, barely able to stand or keep his eyes open.  
How long had this been going on? Why had Suga been sleeping in that makeshift shed out in the cold, and where were his parents, and why had he lied about living in that house? 

About an hour later, the doctor came and checked up on Suga. To everyone’s relief, he said it wasn’t too bad, a relatively mild case of hypothermia, not severe enough to be dangerous yet. They had made the right call by gently moving Suga to a warm place so his body could heat up again, and there was no need to hospitalize him, they just had to watch him for the next few days. 

And so they did. Daichi basically didn’t leave Suga’s side during the weekend. He brought him food, he helped him get to the bathroom to shower, he read him stories to keep him occupied, he gave him new clothes to change and he made sure he drank enough.  
Also, he texted the other guys, though he didn’t lose a word over the circumstances, just that Suga was sick but would be okay. 

Monday rolled around and he had to return to school, but Suga was much better already and Daichi’s mother stayed home to take care of him. The other guys asked a lot of questions during practice, but Daichi made sure to only give short answers since he didn’t know how much Suga wanted the other guys to know yet. 

A few days later, Suga was almost back to being healthy. He was still weakened and needed to take things slow, but at least he could eat normally, stand up without swaying and walk around without immediately getting exhausted.  
Daichi knew as well as Suga himself, that they couldn’t avoid the topic much longer. 

So one evening after dinner, Daichi sat down next to Suga on his bedroom floor and looked him straight in the eye. “I think you know what I’m about to ask.”  
Suga nodded. “Yeah. What do you want to know first?” 

It wasn’t awkward. They had known each other for so long, had spent so many nights on this exact bedroom floor, had talked about their passions and fears... there was just this one unknown thing between them now. 

“Why did you tell me you lived in that house?”  
Suga smiled his usual gentle smile, but his eyes looked incredibly sad. “I barely knew you back then. And once we became closer, I didn’t know how to break it to you that I had lied. I was so scared of anyone finding out, so I made sure to hide it really well.” 

“Where are your parents, then?” He kept his voice as calm as possible, not wanting to make Suga uncomfortable.  
“Honestly? I don’t know. I left home around the time I became sixteen, and I haven’t heard from them since.” He looked down to the ground. “They were drunks. So when they started to get violent, I took all the money I had on my account and left. I never knew whether they cared or not that I was gone, but when I came here, I still wasn’t declared missing, so I guess they can’t have been too upset.” 

“Suga...” Daichi reached out and squeezed the other boy’s shoulder. “I am so sorry.”  
“Don’t be,” Suga replied and tried to smile again, but his eyes were getting a bit watery. “It didn’t come as a surprise to me since I didn’t know them any other way.”  
“That doesn’t make it better, though. You didn’t deserve that, and I’m sorry you had to live through it.” He almost dreaded the next question. “Where did you stay?” 

“At first, I stayed in a motel where they didn’t care about me lying about my age. Maybe you know it, it’s about five minutes from here. I bought that old bike from the money I had left to get around, and that’s why you and me always rode the same way. But staying at the motel was too expensive in the long run, so if I wanted to continue to eat and go to school, I had to quit paying the room money. And well...” He lowered his gaze again. “That’s how I ended up where you found me today.” 

This was like an arrow right to the heart. “How... how long have you stayed there?”  
“Um... something over a year now. Last winter wasn’t so cold, though.” His shoulders were trembling, but it wasn’t because of the room temperature. “Actually, the reason I started volleyball kind of originated in all that. The fact that I started to love doing it was a great bonus. By joining the club, I had something to do without having to pay for it, I got decent showers and extra clothes. When I left the motel, I always showered at the gym.” 

“That’s why you were always so early for morning practice.” Daichi was cursing himself internally for not having noticed anything earlier. His best friend had been homeless for over a year, and he hadn’t seen it. Now he reached over and pulled the crying Suga closer to him. “I’m so sorry,” the latter sobbed softly. “It’s not that I didn’t trust you, I just... I was so ashamed.”  
“You don’t have to apologize,” Daichi answered and hugged his best friend close to his chest. “I’m the one who’s sorry, I should’ve paid more attention. I can just tell you one thing, you’re safe now, and you’ll always have a home here.”  
At that, Suga just sobbed harder. “I... I can’t... I don’t have any money, I...” But Daichi interrupted him. “I’m not paying my parents money to let me live here either. By now, this is your home too, and I will not let you go back to the streets, so I’m afraid you’ll just have to accept that.” 

For some minutes, Suga was crying so hard that he didn’t get a single word out, so Daichi just held him close and rubbed his back. Eventually, he calmed down a bit and looked Daichi straight in the eye. “Thank you. You saved my life, Daichi.”  
But Daichi shook his head. “There’s no need to thank me. I’ll always be there for you, unconditionally.” 

Later that day, Suga told Daichi’s parents everything he had told Daichi before, and then Daichi’s mother hugged him close. “Your parents were stupid not to cherish the gift of having you as a son.” Daichi’s father joined in, too. “We won’t make that same mistake, I can promise you that.” Everyone cried a little that day. 

They went to bed in the evening, still sharing a room because they couldn’t stand being apart from the other for now.  
They got ready and said good night and laid down, but Daichi couldn’t sleep yet. Instead, he turned to Suga again. “Hey.”  
“What is it?” the other replied sleepily, and Daichi smiled, rolled over and hugged Suga one more time. 

“Welcome home, Koushi.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Please leave kudos and/or a comment, you'll literally make my day!


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